Removing sludge from sedimentation basins and reservoirs.



D. G. WILLIAMSON. I REMOVING SLUDGE FROM SEDIMENIATION BASINS AND RESERVOIRS.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 14, 1907.

908,058, 7 Patented Dec.29,1908.

8 BHBETS-BHEET 1.

INVENTOR WITNESSES:

D. C. WILLIAMSON. REMOVING SLUDGE FROM SEDIMENTA'IIOII BASINS'AND BESERVOIRS.

APPLICATION 1-11.21) NOV.14, 1907.

' Patented D60. 29, 1908.

3 SHEETS-SHEET. 2.

l I I I I I I I I l l I I I I I l I I I I l bu -w INVENTOR WITNESSES: 5%! L0; M

D. G. WILLIAMSON. REMOVING SLUDGE mom SEDIMENTATION BASINS AND BESERVOIRS.

- APPLICATION TILED N V.

908,058. I Patented Dec. 29,1908.

3 SHEETS-BHBET 3. V

lllll/I/ 1/1 To all whom it may concern:

. the

DAVID CHARLES WILLIAMSON, OF-NEW YORK, N. Y.

REMOVING S LUDGE FROM SEDIMENTATION BASINS AND RESERVOIRS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

latented Dec. 29, 19,08.

Application filed November 14, 1907. Serial N 0. 402,106.

Be it known that' I, DAVID CHARLES WILLIAMSON, a citizen of residing in the borough of Manhattan, city, county, and'State of New York, have invented certain new and useful 1m rovements in Removing Sludge from Se entation Basins and Reservoirs, of which the followin is a specification.

' Tn sedimentation basins and particularly those of filtering plants the problem of effecting a satisfactory removal of the sludge has not been satisfactor' ysolved in practice. The usual method of removing the slud e is to draw it off, with the water in asin, through pipes arranged in the bottom of the basin and suitably valved. With such systems, however, the sludge which; deposits at a distance from the drainage pipes is left in substantial quantities upon the bottom of the basin after all the water has been drawn oil. It has been- I attempted to obviate this'difiiculty by proa mechanism which of drawin oflf the entire basin at each 0 eanmg. Where the water in the viding a number of branch drainage plpes. But the outflowing water always takes the easiest course, and as soon as one of such pipes has become a little choked, the flow of water through it is so retarded as to cause a further deposit of sludge, so as to finally choke it entirely, the water all running off through other branches. The sludge in the neighborhood of the choked pi e of course will not run of. 7

he present invention aims to obviate these disadvantages and to ermit of effecting a perfect cleaning out o the basin with a minimum of difiiculty and expense, with is always accessible for inspection or repair, and without the necessity full of water basin or reservoir has already been treated with a coagulating agent toaccelerate sedimentation and clarificatiomthe're is a great economy in'cost of such coagulating agent, due to the saving of a great quantity of this water as w 11 as the time for pumping 'when necessary. A very. substantial econ-,

omy may also be efiected where no coagu P ab 0 amount of time is thus saved. The

sedimentation-and also the removal of thesediment may be continuous. r

the United States,

The accompanying drawings illustrate apparatus for carrying out the process.

Figure 1 is a lan. Fig. 2 is a vertical dinal section.

Referring to the particular apparatus illustrated, we su pose it applied to a pair of basins A A'of t e usual type. C between the two baslns supports a carriage upon which the sludge-removing apparatus is mounted, the carriage traveling on rails supported by the partition. The sludge is taken up through a pipe E havinga mouthpliece F near the bottom of the basin, the pipe extending above the level of the water n the basin and discharging into a trough or sump G formed on the top of the partition wall 0, and leading off to any suitable dumping ground. The discharge of the sludge may be effected by is at H, a ove the lower end of the dischare pipe J which depends into the trough he trough G maybe made'of such a depth as to ermit siphoning action from the ordinary evel of water in the basin. For starting the siphon, or for lifting the sludge where the water level is not sufficiently high above the outlet to effect a siphoning action, a pump K may be mounted on the carnage D .pperated by an engine or motor L, having its et connectpd by a horizontal pipe M with the suction pipe E, and havin its outlet connected to the discharge pipe The longitudinal movement of the carriage D'efi'ects the passage of the mouthpieceF longitudinally over the bottom of the basin.

To obtaina transverse adjustment, the suc-j tion pipe E has its lower portion N bent at a cross-section. Flg. 3 is a vertical longitu A partition wall siphonio action, as by supposin for example, that the'water level.

suflicient, angle, and is swiveled at its upper end the connection Owith the horizontal pipe M.

The slud e" sometimes cakes qulte hard, and it is this caking which causes the great difliculty of removing it by ordinary drainage. By operating my system as described herein continuously or at suitable periods, the sludgewill not e less serious. But where the composition of the water and the coagulent, orother conditions, causes the slud e to cake so hard be allowed to accumulate to any substantial extent, *and the caking lant is used. Furthermore there is no stopwill b e of the use of the basin, and a consider9 as to resist removal by 't e suction of the pump or siphon, there may be provided an .tank is circular, the

and R are sn agitator adjacent to the mouthpiece F. For example, a toothed wheel P may be arranged 'ust beyond the mouth of the suction pipe, to

e rotated by any suitable flexible or bent sh tft,.&S, for example, by means of beveled pinions pipe N and which is connected by a universal joint with a vertical-shaft R adjacent to the vertical pipe E, the shaft R being in turn rotated by a pair of beveled'pinions at its upper end. The wheel P and its shafts Q orted by suitable brackets S, T, U, V and from the suction pipe. The bracket W has an upwardly and horizontally projecting arm X carrying a bearing for the pinion Y from which the agitator is driven. The pinion Y is rotated by means of a shaft Z slidingtherethrough, and provided on its inner end with a crank a. The 0 erator b manipulating the inner end of t e shaft may swing the suction pipe about a vertical axis, and by manipulating the crank a when necessary may stir up the sludge. The car riage may be ushed along the track lay hand or by a suita l'e connection with the motor L, or otherwise as desired. Where a double tank A A is used, a single discharge pipe J and pump K are made to serve for a ir of' suction pipes which are identical wit each other and which serve to balance the carriage D on its track.

The manner of supporting and moving the apparatus over the bottom of the tank may be varied in a number of ways. The design of such features of construction will be modified as required to meet te design of the basin or basins containin the water to be clarified. Other mechanism for swinging. the mouthpiece transversely may be adopted Instead of the carriage or trolley D may. bl'f substituted afloat w1th a. flexible discharge pipe or with. a rigid discharge ipe extending always over a wall of the ta Where the mouthpiece may be arranged to swing about a support fixed at the center.

In considering the utility of the invention, it should be understood that after the introduction of the'coagulant into the water the sludge forms and precipitates very quickly, so as to leave a large body of comparative y clear water except near the bottom. By moving the suctlon pipe mouthpiece over the bottom, the sludge and roily water of the bottom will be brought up together without any objectionable dlsturbance.

In preferred practice it would be desirable when sremovin'g the sludge as described above, to permit the water to flow in the baslnor reservoir in the usual. manner, this the operation; if preferred by the operator the influent watercould be stopped, and water in the basin drawn downto the. extent of the volume required to force the sludge from the shaft Q parallel with the i said suction pipe.

a said pump.

from the bottom of the basin through the suction pipe, and this volume would be small com ared with that required by the present usua method of completely drawing oi? the basinful.

The swinging of the suction pipe and the driving of t e agitator may be effected by motive power, if preferred.

What I claim is 1. In combination with a sedimentation basin having a fixed bottom, an apparatus including a suction pipe extending nearly to the bottom of the basm, and means for suching up the sludge through said pipe.

2. 'n combination with a sedimentation basin, having a fixed bottom, an apparatus including a suction pipe and a mouthiece therefor arranged near the bottom 0 the basin and adapted to be shifted over such bottomto take up the sludge at various points,

3. An apparatus for removing sludge from sedimentation basins, inch; a vertical suction pipe E, a pipe N at the ower end of said suction pipe E and arranged at an angle thereto, and a mouth-piece F on the lower end of said pipe N, said pipe E being arranged to rotate about its axis so as to permit the swinging of the mouthpiece F over the bottom of the basin.

4. An apparatus for removing sludge from sedimentation basins, including a vertical suction pipe E, a ipe N at the carer end of and arranged at an angle thereto, a mouth-piece F on the lower end of aid pipe N, said pipe E being arranged to otate about its axis so as to permlt the winging of the mouth-piece F over the bottom of the basin, and a carriage D ca g said pipe E for shifting the same bodily a ng the oasin.

5. An apparatus for removing sludge from sedimentation basins, includin a vertical suction pipe E, a pipe N at the Tower end of said suction pipe E and arranged at an angle thereto, a vmouth-piece F on the lower end of said pipe N, said pipe E arr to rotate about. its 8X1S'SO as to permit e swinging of the mouth-piece F over the bottom of the basin, a carriage D carrying said pipe E for shifting the same bodily along the basin, a suction pump K on said carriage connected to said pipe I), and a motorL for operating 6. An ap ratus fior removing sleudge firom sedink lentatlon bafiifils, including i, sictirln ipe avingamout iece arrange to ea ihsted over the botto in of the basin, and an agitator aazlijacent to said mouth-piece and meam for forcibly operating said agitator to break up the sludge and facilitate its re moval.

7. An a atus for removing sludge from sedimentation basins, including :a suction pipe E N, a mouth-piece F on the lower end thereof, an

. mouthpipe E N, a mouth -piece F on the tor, a

agitator P adjacent tosaid mouth-piece, and a shaft for operating said agitatbrf-' I t 8. An apparatus for removing sludge from sedimentation basins, including a suction pipe E N, a mouth-piece F on the lower end thereof, an agitator P. adjacent to said iece, a shaft for operating said agitator, a inion Y for said shaft, and a crank shaft Z or rotating said pinion Y and adapted to slide through said pinion.

9. An apparatus for removing sludge from sedimentation basins, including a suction lower end thereof, an agitator- P adjacent to said mouth-piece, a shaft for operating said agitadriving pinion Y for shaft Z for rotatin ed to slide throu said pinion "Y and adaptv said pinion, saidpipe E be rtitatable a out gvertitigl sags, and an arm or rota sai pipe an carrying at its end the be a r of said pinion Y, whereby the shaft Z ma ie used to angularly adj list the pipe E an also to rotate the agitator.

In combination with a sedimentation basin having a .fixed bottom, an a paratus including a suction .pipehaving its 1nlet end extending nearl arging 1t into said tro ng a wall sup orted by said shaft, a crank h to take upthe udge, the mouth of said suction pipe being approximately parallel with said; ottom so as to take up a minimum quantity of water with the sludge.

1 1111,. In coanlilbination, a sedimelptatign basin aymg a w c a troug an means lief-sucking up the sludge flOIill said basin and to the bottom of the basin In combination, a sedlmentation-bas'in 7 said wall for em slu e from the bottom of said basin charging. it into said trough.

13. In having a fixed flat bottom, ahd a aving a mouth-piece close to and arranged to be adjusted over the same so as to directly suck up points of the bottom. 1 1

In witness whereof, I have hereunto s' my name in the presence of two subscn w1tnesses-. 1

up the- Witnessea:

Doumeo A.-Us'nn. Warm.

carrying a trough and means anddis- 40 combination, .a sedimentation basin suction pipe 1 said bottom I thesludgefrom various ed 9 'mvm CHARLES wit-mittens. 

